Betty Hargraves hardly conforms to the traditional image of a sufferer of Parkinson's disease.

She is a volunteer with meals on wheels, is an active member of Wrose Luncheon Club, square dances, attends yoga, is a regular churchgoer and walks up to five miles.

She was diagnosed with the illness eight years ago after suffering a bout of depression and finding her movements were becoming slower and slower.

Mrs Hargraves, 64, of Eccleshill, has learned to cope with the condition which affects signals from the brain to the muscles, trapping active minds inside failing bodies.

But she still feels a stigma from the condition which is being highlighted in an awareness week until Sunday by the Parkinson's Disease Society as part of efforts to challenge misconceptions of the illness.

Many people continue to live normal lives with the condition which is not just confined to the elderly. Hollywood actor 37-year-old Michael J Fox last year revealed he has had the condition for seven years joining Muhammad Ali and evangelist Billy Graham in talking publicly about their experience of the disease.

There are about 120,000 sufferers in the country but all have different sets of symptoms which can vary not just from day to day but minute to minute.

Traditionally the disease is associated with tremors but about a quarter never experience them.

Muscle rigidity and problems moving quickly or accurately are common features and it can lead to fixed facial looks and lack of verbal communication and worst of all hurtful remarks about rudeness, grumpiness and even drunkenness.

Mrs Hargraves, a district nurse for 26 years, said it had come as a relief when the diagnosis had been made and she had set out to battle the illness which was controlled by drugs.

Her speech and energy were sometimes affected but she had never suffered tremors and had remained positive and active.

"In my case depression was one of the first symptoms and I found when I was hanging the washing out I was very slow," she said.

"I think you've got to lead as normal a life as you can, doing things you've always done if you can.

"You've got to keep exercising because if the muscles get stiff you've had it and I find if you keep busy it keeps your mind off it.

"It's a real boost to me if people tell me they didn't realise I had it because there is that stigma with it and I generally don't tell people.

"You get them staring at you and saying 'How are you' in a particular way which is really negative.

"I think people write you off. There is no cure but there aren't a lot of cures for a lot of things and its not a death sentence, it's a life sentence."

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